An Artist Speaks (The Myth of 15%)

This has to do with patterns and this myth that seems to have surfaced in sewing circles along with knitting and quilting groups, that if you change the pattern X% (Honestly I have heard everything from 15% to 55%) then you have created a new pattern and therefore don’t have to recognize the original pattern maker or could even sell the pattern you “created” from the other pattern. It seems a bone of contention that shows up on the various lists I belong to about every three months.

There are grey areas. I know recently someone got a legal slap on the wrist for trying to copyright a pattern that they had copied from a book that was in public domain. And, as it has been often said in the cloth doll world, there are only so many ways you can make a leg. There are patterns free on line that the creators have asked for credit if you use their pattern and not to copy and sell the patterns as if they were your own. There is one doll maker in Japan whose work I love. She has been very generous about sharing how she makes things along with some amazing patterns. At the end of last year she asked for help with someone in the States that had copied one of her patterns and was selling it on Etsy as their pattern when it contained markings that made if obvious it was the Japanese doll maker’s pattern. Since then she has been more reticent about posting patterns on her website and, while this makes me sad, I do understand it.

One of the best explanations I have read over the years comes from the Australian Copyright office which states

Copyright does not protect ideas or information. Nor does it protect styles or techniques or methods. Copyright protects the way in which an idea or concept is expressed – for example, as a drawing, or a piece of writing.

Therefore, if you are simply using someone elseʼs idea, information, technique or method to create a garment, you will not be infringing copyright. For example, the original idea of making a swimming costume in two pieces was not protected, but it is likely that the first bikini and the pattern for that bikini were protected as artistic works. Also, while a particular pattern for flared pants may be protected, the general idea of pants being flared is not. copyright the Australian Copyright Office

And that in a nutshell is how copyright works for patterns.

This is also why I draft own my patterns for my work. That way I can honestly say that if I happen to accidently copy someone else, I didn’t know I was doing so since I came up with it on my own. I do use pattern drafting books to figure out how I am going to put something together but the rest is trial and error. I have gotten really good at being able to eyeball things for various pieces of clothing. I know the basics and go from there.

I hope that this rambling has helped someone understand the rather complicated realm of pattern making.

I am grateful to those artists who have helped me figure out how to make things.

Live Journal Idol Season 7 Week 9 Marching Orders

You have your marching orders was something I have heard through out my life. Not that my family is a military family but because it is a phrase that has been used for various things at various times.

I can remember my parents saying it to me and it meant, we have given you a series of things to do and we expect you to do them in this order. I had a couple of high school teachers that used the same phrase and it had the same meaning. There were expectations of me and I was to fulfill them to the best of my ability.

When I heard it at the Yale School of Drama, it was usually at the end of the weekly stage management meeting signifying that we all had our assignments and sorted out who was supporting who that week. The 3rd years always took a first year under their wing and taught them the ropes so that they could do their jobs. We were a rather thinly stretched but efficient squad of folks that were with each other in the trenches.

I used it a lot with my assistants and coworkers in the theater over the years. It meant that I felt that they knew what I needed them to do and I was expecting them to meet or exceed what I needed them to do within the time frame I had given them. Because I trusted them, I was rarely disappointed by them. If you treat people like adults and that they have brains in their heads, they tend to want to prove that your trust is well placed.

When I worked at Del Rey, I heard the phrase from the editors I worked with. They learned early that they could give me a task and I was pretty much good to go. They gave me my marching orders and I, in turn, did my best to get things done in a responsible and efficient manner. If I had a question, it would be quickly answered so I could continue with the task. Authors love me because I knew how to navigate the various systems to get the answers that they needed including when they were getting paid. I was a good employee.

Now I am a mom and have a new set of marching orders that I have been working with. This set came with a lot less information than the other sets I have gotten during my life. Some of it can be experimental and some things work and other things are abandoned. But I am enjoying them a lot.

I have been noodling around in my skull about creating a set of marching orders for my art. I need to get a site up or sell on Etsy or Ebay. I need to make more art I can sell. I need to structure my time so I can do all this. I need to get my marching orders written out so I can see what I need to do to succeed.

Then of course there are the marching orders I get from Gary every week in terms of the topic at hand for this contest. I am sure that we will have new marching orders next week.

This is my entry for the Live Journal Idol contest about Marching Orders. If you liked it, I ask that you vote for me after the poll goes up on Saturday. There, now you have your marching orders. * Grin*